Chelsea’s match against Sporting Lisbon last night presented Manchester United fans with a chance to watch Nani in action against their Premier League rivals.

The Portuguese winger joined Sporting on loan from United as part of the deal which saw Louis van Gaal’s team complete the signing of versatile defender Marcos Rojo in a £16 million deal.

Rather than leaving United fans purring over his performance, the winger failed to have a big impact during the game, justifying the decisions of Sir Alex Ferguson, David Moyes and Louis van Gaal to only use him as a squad player.

His performance against the Blues was summed up by one piece of play in the first-half which saw him back heel the ball to no one.

Nani thought a Sporting Lisbon player was running behind him to get onto the ball and create space for a pass but really it was just the referee jogging behind him to get into a better position.

If van Gaal is open to the possibility of bringing Nani back from his loan with Sporting and using him next season, he’ll be looking for several things.

He’s playing regularly, which is the first but the boss will be hoping to see more from him in terms of his performance in big games, deciding important matches in high pressure situations.

His impact in games against big and difficult sides like Chelsea has been muted over the past couple of seasons, but it’s not all about United, he needs to play well if he’s to convince Sporting that he’s worth the investment they’d have to make in him to sign him permanently next year.

Here’s what United fans made of his performance against Chelsea on Twitter and they haven’t held back based on what they saw from the Portuguese last night.

Don't comeback, please «@NigeriaNewsdesk ‘I’m a Manchester United player, I’m here at Sporting to get back to my best’ – Nani http

Lewis Doe

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